Related Content

Chism, 16, was accused of using a box cutter to brutally stab the 24-year-old and then violate her in the woods, where her body was found. He was 14 at the time of the murder and tried as an adult.

Chism sat stoic as the jury came back after 10 hours of deliberating with guilty verdicts on three of the four charges: first-degree murder; aggravated natural rape, which took place in the school bathroom; and armed robbery.

The jury returned a not guilty verdict to a charge of aggravated unnatural rape, which prosecutors said took place in the woods behind the school.

With the murder conviction, Chism will be eligible for parole in 15 to 25 years. With the aggravated rape conviction, he would be eligible for parole after 15 years.

The judge has the discretion to sentence Chism to serve the sentences consecutively or concurrently.

Both the mothers of Ritzer and Chism broke down as the verdicts were announced.

"This guilty verdict, while the beginning of justice, is certainly no cause for celebration, as there can never be true justice for the crime committed," Ritzer's father, Tom Ritzer said.

"One of Colleen's favorite quotes was, 'There is something good in every day.' To celebrate our love for her, and in recognition of the many lives she touched and continues to influence despite the immense loss we've had to endure, we will carry on and do our very best to find the good in every day," Ritzer's mother, Peggie Ritzer said.

Chism's attorneys did not dispute that he killed Ritzer, but argued unsuccessfully that severe mental illness left him not criminally responsible for his actions.

During the trial, jurors watched chilling video from surveillance cameras at the school that showed Chism following Ritzer into a bathroom, wearing a hood and putting on gloves.

“The only still image that matters in this case is the image of Colleen in the woods,” prosecutor Kate MacDougall said.

The defense said the images showed Chism acting under the orders of the voices in his head.

“When Philip Chism followed Miss Ritzer into that bathroom, he was not himself. He was totally and absolutely responding to the terrible command of the hallucinations in his head," attorney Denise Regan said.

The prosecution argued Chism is manipulative and lying, and not legally insane.

Chism, who had just moved to Massachusetts from Clarksville, Tennessee before the murder, will be sentenced after the holidays.